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| Added: 24 Sep 2013 |
Category: 2013 Oval Racing |
| 2013 - #44 - Tullyroan Oval - 21/9/13 |
The opening day of the much anticipated World Weekender at Tullyroan Oval and the big night for the ProStocks, and a very early trip to the racing.
I arrived at Tullyroan at shortly after 1 and the place was already filling up, and there was already a buzz about the place, from the camper vans at the top of the hill to the collection of start marshalls assembled for the weekend, you got the feeling something special was about to happen, and indeed it did.
I could type a report for the next hour on who each race and how it all went down, but I’ll stick to the stand out moments for me.
The ProStock World Cup seen it’s first staging away from the Racewall and what a race it turned out to be. The public draw for grid pulled up a bit of a shock when Robbie Diffin didn’t come out to draw leaving 35 cars on the 36 car grid, and by chance pole was the position that wasn’t drawn, leaving the rare occurrence of a World final with no pole sitter, personally I’d have moved the grid up one OR moved the inside row up one, but I don’t make those calls.
After a frantic race in which I nearly got run over, which featured a huge early pile up and a few big smashes throughout the race, Ryan Abernethy eventually crossed the line to take the win followed home by Thomas Agnew and Tam Melrose. In the last chance race Billy Finnegan Snr ran from the back row, having raced 45 years ago to the day in the opening meeting at Portadown.
The Lightning Rod heats went to Gordy McKee, Jordan Rochford and Brendan McConnell, and featured quite a bit of action, including a huge smash in heat three when Mark Taylor ended up stranded on the back straight and was hit hard by Richard Stewart, ending both drivers weekend, and on the subject of weekend’s ending early fancied Lightning Rod front runner David Hearst didn’t make it beyond practice having blown an engine.
The Stock Rods attracted a huge grid, I think of 30 cars including the return Andy Best and a one off weekend for Glenn Bell. I’d been so busy watching Bell and Chris Gordon’s progress throughout the night, I hadn’t noticed World Champion Chris Lattka had put in the results to put himself on pole for the Sunday’s Irish Masters Championship.
The Junior Productions raced for their Irish Championship, which seen a lights to flag victory for Bradley McKinstry, while the support race when to Jamie McCurdy who was racing a stunning new car.
The 2 Litre Hot Rods seen heat wins for Shane Murray and Adam Hylands, which many could have predicted when they drew opposite ends of the grid, each starting a race on the front few rows.
The Superstox competed for their first Irish Open Championship, since their return to the province this year. Chris Roots took the honours in the final leading home Jason Cooper and Gary Grattan.
The night ended with an accumulator race with prize money for the leader of each lap, David Frame led the race from start to finish, which included a stoppage when Ben Styles went on his side early on.
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| More Photos on TullyroanOval.com |
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